Triumph of the black actors

One of the more gratifying aspects of this year's Academy awards nominations (apart from the fact that intelligent aliens apparently overtook the habitually non-sentient, taste-free brains of Academy voters) is that no fewer than three black performers were nominated for best actor and actress. Will Smith surprised everyone with the depth of his performance in Ali (except those who remember Six Degrees of Separation) and the Academy surprised us by nominating him.

Denzel Washington should win for his dirty cop in Training Day, but in the present cop-loving climate that's highly unlikely. And Halle Berry won't win either, though her nomination for a stunning, often self-degrading performance in Monster's Ball should dampen any lingering claims that she can't act.

This is a partial acknowledgement that one of the great resources in US cinema right now is an abundance of gifted young black actors. Many of them come from traditional proving grounds in TV, especially from younger networks like Fox, the WB and UPN, which feature mediocre fare for African-American audiences but also provide income and training for up-and-coming talent. Many come from hip-hop, stand-up or sports, and have made the transition with more success than wannabe white crossovers like Britney Spears. For example, LL Cool J is now a dependable, likeable character actor, as is Ice-T, the formidable ex-pimp rapper. Ice Cube now spends more time writing and directing low-budget comedies like Friday than he does recording albums. Even his fellow-NWA Dr Dre is acting, with an effective performance in Training Day alongside fellow Death Row Records survivor Snoop Dogg.

Ex-comic Jamie Foxx surprised everyone with his touching performance as one of the cornermen in Ali, for which I think he deserved a best supporting actor nomination. And comedian Bernie Mac, seen to good effect in Ocean's Eleven, currently has the funniest black sitcom on TV: Fox's The Bernie Mac Show.

For the time being, if you want great acting - and particularly great ensemble acting - you should bet on black.